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Topic: Good ol' Drive Image |
Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2008 4:21 pm |
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Does anybody know if the old PowerQuest DriveImage 7 backup program is Vista compatible? I have version 2.0.8.402. Mama got a laptop with Vista Home Premium, so....
Thanks
Lou |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2008 4:51 pm Re: Good ol' Drive Image
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| Lou[NE] wrote: |
Does anybody know if the old PowerQuest DriveImage 7 backup program is Vista compatible? I have version 2.0.8.402. Mama got a laptop with Vista Home Premium, so....
Thanks
Lou |
Lou;
Symantec bought out PowerQuest several years ago and I can tell you that Drive Image 7 will probably not work in Windows Vista at all. However, Acronis True Image 11 does work in Windows Vista. With any third party backup application you should exercise caution regarding any special partitions that may exist on the factory installed hard drive.
There is a brand new issue caused by the way Windows Vista allocates the bootsector on a Vista computer's C drive. I won't bore you to death with the details, but because of this change in hard drive formatting geometry, restoring a third party created disk image to a Vista bootdrive will result in an unbootable drive. Unbootable restored images can be "repaired" by booting from a retail copy of any Vista DVD and running the Boot Repair utility.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 17 Mar 2008 11:21 pm
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Well, I had planned on getting Acronis if Drive Image wouldn't work but
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| restoring a third party created disk image to a Vista bootdrive will result in an unbootable drive. Unbootable restored images can be "repaired" by booting from a retail copy of any Vista DVD and running the Boot Repair utility. |
And I'll bet that the recovery DVDs I make for this thing (Compaq Presario) to restore to the factory state don't have the boot repair utility. I don't have a retail Vista disc.
What's a viable backup alternative?
Hrumph!
Thanks Wiz
Thanks Wiz |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 18 Mar 2008 2:48 am
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I am using Acronis True Image 11 on my Vista machine. I've had to rebuild my hard drive twice (my doings during testing - not Vista caused) and I didn't have a problem either time.
I do full backups of all partitions on my main drive (the two Dell installed diagnostic and recovery partitions and my Operating System "C" drive), I don't use the incremental backup option. I keep two copies of the full backup on the drive I use for backups - the previous backup and the current backup. |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 18 Mar 2008 7:17 pm
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| Jack Stoner wrote: |
I am using Acronis True Image 11 on my Vista machine. I've had to rebuild my hard drive twice (my doings during testing - not Vista caused) and I didn't have a problem either time.
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Acronis fixed the Vista bootsector issues in the second release of True Image 11. Some other companies have not yet done this and may have problems with restoring images. Acronis has an excellent user forum that is visited by Acronis personnel on occasion. They do respond to user reports of bugs and problems. In fact, it was on the Acronis forums where I learned about the Vista bootsector changes, which was affecting people who had TI 10.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2008 3:05 am
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Methinks I'd be lost without this forum.
Thank you Wiz and Jack. And a 2nd thanks to Wiz for the bargain link to Acronis.
Lou |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2008 4:04 pm
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One more question - I'm assuming that Acronis will support backups to a networked hard drive. Is it so? I have an old PC with a couple large hard drives that I use as a backup server.
Lou |
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Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2008 4:06 pm
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| Never mind - I looked a little harder and found that it does. Thanks |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2008 9:21 pm
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Acronis can create backups to any location that can be seen from your computer, including network and FTP locations. When saving images to remote drives or locations always have Acronis validate the archive after creating it. This also applies to incremental updates. It takes longer to complete the backup process, but is well worth the time, in case there is a data mismatch.
Did you know that defragmenting a drive containing Acronis backups might damage incremental images? It is also a good idea to validate your backups after defragging a disk where they are located.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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Lou[NE]
From:
Weston, NE USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2008 3:14 pm
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Thanks Wiz
I don't mess with incrementals or partials. I (theoretically) do a full backup each week, and rely on restore points between times. I think this is a good enough strategy for a small home LAN with 6 PCs on it and no mission-critical data.
Some more questions though -
1. Does defrag affect full backup images, or just incrementals?
2. I tried defragging one of my backup repository drives and it said finished but some files could not be defragged (probably due to their size). How does a disk with only 5 large files on it get fragmented in the 1st place?
Thanks once again,
Lou |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2008 7:39 pm
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I defragged my full and incremental backups today. I do this on the external drive about once a month. Stuff happens to drives when they are being accessed for reading and writing. Fragmentation happens and fixing it makes reading the data smoother and faster. And, yes, even huge files get fragmented when they are being written to the backup location.
I do advise you to validate the archives after defragging.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog |
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